A blog about health, diet, training, science and life from the perspective female fitness and nutrition expert with a PhD in Exercise Science and MS in Nutrition & Metabolism.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Last OFFICIAL day of the modified velocity diet

Friday was the last official day of the diet for me.

I followed it to a "V" (standing for Victory) up until after my workout. Then, it was time to EAT. I consumed a heck of a lot of calories in the form of sweet potato, corn, Sunchips... yes, sunchips, salmon, white beans and... strawberry shortcake (light coolwhip, fresh strawberries and a small foam cake mold). I felt so good and slept like a million bucks.

My measurements were OK, but I wished they would have been more significant. I really restricted as much as I could and worked out harder than most people would while following this diet. But, it was OK.

What happened is: I lost another 1/2 inch of my waist for a total of 1 1/2 inches for the 4 weeks, but nothing anywhere else. This 1/2 inch did make me somewhat happy though because I was expecting to be bigger due to PMS. I ignored my body weight because it wasn't accurate (PMS) and my body fat % was a bit lower at 17.5%. I took pictures and the loss was noticable in my waist area. Plus, I looked a bit harder all over.

So, it wasn't all for nothing. When I put on my bikini yesterday (Saturday) for the beach, I was impressed that I looked pretty damn hot (must have been all that food I ate the night before... haha) and it inspired me to keep going hard on a restricted diet for the next 2 weeks. Two weeks is my goal for now because that's when I make my way over to Vegas to speak at the ISSN meeting. Such fun!

I trained lightly on Saturday morning (lifted for 20 mins and did 1 hour straight cardio), and ate big all day. We went to the lake (as I mentioned) and I just ate a lot of food. I was so exhausted, so I needed it. Today, Sunday, I've just done some walking, and again another higher calorie day.

I can see how easy it is for people to get fat though. We've got so much access to high calorie foods and we don't do anything to burn it off. All the people I hung out with this weekend ate about the same as me... but they really shouldn't have, because they didn't work out all week long, nor worked out much at all.

Tomorrow, I'm going to use all my stored glycogen to hit the trails for a hard mountain bike day (probably climb for 2-3 hours) and will also lift later in the afternoon. I'll eat at maintenance (1800 to 2000 cals) or slightly lower with a 50% pro, 25% carb 25% fat split of only foods that I can calculate the calories on (which is what some people refer to as "clean foods" like chicken, tuna, salmon, rice, etc). Then, starting Tuesday, it's back to low cals of about 1200 to 1500 and 1-2 shakes per day with all whole foods and lots of vegetables until Sunday which I will eat one more maintenance day, and then back low again until I leave for Vegas (because in Vegas I won't have the luxury to calculate my food, but I will eat good).

It was nice to not have to count anything or weigh anything this weekend. Left me time to think about me and what I really wanted.

This is it: I want to be 16% body fat or less (that's reasonable). I want to be muscular. I want to be happy with myself and not let my diet craziness harm my relationship with Justin AND I want to be able to function normally around my friends (and not act like a food snob... which they all think I am anyhow).

Alright. Gotta work. Will post my food up until my trip to Vegas and will blog about more fun things,,,, like the craziness of Cassie's mind. And, some cool science news.

7:00 am - Got up, made Justin breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, took probiotics etc. Foam rolled quickly but didn't go for a walk because I had to start working right away on the book. Needed to get a lot done in the morning because didn't get much done last night and figured I wouldn't get much done again this evening.

Came home and BBQ'd with friends. Ate onion Sunchips (damn they were good), salmon, sweet potato fries, 1/2 corn of the cob, white bean and tomato Italian salad, Strawberry Shortcake. Felt like a million bucks!

This whole meal was about 700 calories easy and about 100 carbs at least. My muscles sucked up that food like they were starving for it (which they were…) Damn. That was awesome.

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About Me

Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic is a PhD Kinesiology graduate of the University of Connecticut. Her MS is in Nutrition and Metabolism from University of Alberta, Canada. She's certified as a Registered Dietitian (RD) through the ADA, is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN). You can also read more about her at cassandraforsythe.com